Fewer Staycations… More Vacations! #LifeReady

This post is sponsored by 360ACCESS on behalf of Manulife. The opinions are my own.

One of the major bonuses of having two school aged kids now is that we finally (finally!), after six and a half loooong years, have a little bit of wiggle room, financially speaking. Yes, we still have childcare fees, but they are a fraction of what they were even just one year ago. And honestly speaking, the simple fact that we have that smaller childcare bill each month has taken a massive load of stress off of my plate. We now have money to put aside for things like clothes for me (yes, I’m the mom who only bought new clothes for herself when the old ones wore out), update our electronics that have been loved too hard by the peanut (peanut-1, TV-0), and maybe I even have plans for us to have a nice family vacation next year! Ok, yes, a vacation within driving distance, but still, better than a staycation, right?

The bottom line is, over the past several years I’ve gotten better and better at managing our finances, and thankfully we have reached the end of a long road of doing without so that we could cover our bills and feed tiny humans. Now, this doesn’t mean that I’m going to go off spending our extra cash willy-nilly. What it does mean is that for the first time I have a plan in place to:

Pay off (not just down) our debt

Save for a family vacation

Save for emergencies

That’s a lot for my family, and I’m very excited.

Now, all that said, we still have a lot of work to do to get our family financially fit. I recently took the Manulife #LifeReady online quiz and discovered that only only 28% of Canadians feel financially ready. Ready for things like emergencies and big life moments (babies, wedding, unexpected illness etc.) The result I got from the quiz? My family falls within the the 45% of families who are only at Level 3 readiness. I’m not shocked, but thanks to this quiz, I now have an easy snapshot of where we need to be and how we can get there.

Take the Manulife #LifeReady quiz to see where you stand, then join me Wednesday October 28th at 9pm for the #LifeReady Twitter Party where they will be giving advice on getting #LifeReady, as well as over $2500 in cash prizes to start your #LifeReady dreams!